My Saving Grace
by thecraftywriter
Summary: Twin sisters Katherine and Elena Gilbert are high school seniors turned against each other when new guy Damon Salvatore enrolls in their very own Mystic High. Through traumatic pasts and present unsettling dramatic encounters, can the inhabitants of Mystic Falls find peace and stability among the sabotage and obstruction?
1. Fair Game

_**Story**: My Saving Grace_

_**Chapter**: Fair Game_

_**Disclaimer**: I don't own The Vampire Diaries or it's characters, just this plot_

* * *

"Elena!"

Elena sighed as she grabbed the comforter and raised it higher above her head to block out the annoying call of her name from down the hall. Though, that didn't stop the voice from getting louder and clearer as it came closer and closer to her and found itself in Elena's room. Elena lifted the comforter off of her eyes and saw the time on the clock; great, it was time to get ready for school.

"Elena, don't you hear me calling you?"

Elena rolled her eyes, "Yes, I heard you. What do you want?" she asked. Elena lifted the comforter off of her body and stood at the side of her bed staring at the girl in front of her.

"Dad said to get ready, we have school in two hours," the feminine voice demanded.

"Katherine, we have two hours before school starts. I'm sure I can get ready by then," Elena said, her fingertips massaging into her temples to block out the annoying voice of her twin sister. Katherine huffed and walked away without another word to her own room.

Elena walked over to her room door and closed it upon her sister's departure and grabbed her thin sweater off of the coat rack behind her door. Elena retrieved her journal and pen from under her bed before she walked over to the opposite side of the room where her balcony doors were and opened them, breathing in the cool September air. She sat on her outdoor loveseat and closed her eyes, feeling of the air tousling her hair.

She wrote in her journal, a refreshing exercise for her mind that she did every morning. It helped her organize her thoughts without leaving them into the disheveled mess they usually were in before she thought them through, not to mention it helped her gain some insight on other perspectives as well. It was like reading about a person in a book; you learn about that person and you see the mistakes that they can't because you are analyzing it in print right in front of you, whereas they are just living life day to day without a book to compare and make notes about.

Just as she was going to close up her last sentence in her journal, there was a knock on her balcony door. It was her brother Jeremy who looked at his big sister with a small sympathetic smile. Elena looked up at him and smiled, "Yes?" she asked.

"I just wanted to know if I could get a ride with you to school and back today," Jeremy asked, his arms leaning against the doorway.

Elena smiled at her little brother and cocked her head to the side a bit, "Yeah, of course you can, but why don't you want to go with Katherine? I'm sure she's taking Isobel with her."

"I'd rather not hang around those bitches. Dad's taking his car to the mechanics today so he can't drive me and I really don't want to walk because the school is about a forty minute walk from here," Jeremy explained.

It was nice when her brother asked her for drives to school because they bonded nicely. "It's no problem, but I'm picking up Bonnie and Caroline today because it's like a first day of school ritual thing. Do you mind?" Elena asked.

"No, it's fine. I'd rather that than Katherine, Isobel and Sage" Jeremy said with much distaste.

Elena laughed with her brother; it was the truth being bluntly spoken through a tenth grader's mouth. Katherine was Elena's twin sister and Isobel was their annoyingly rude and obnoxious eleventh grade sister; they bond over their rude attitudes and everything else similar to that. Sage was Katherine's best friend and lives three houses down.

As Jeremy left, Elena ascended into her room and went into her ensuite bathroom. She showered, shaved her legs and washed her body before stepping out of the shower and drying herself off. Wrapped in her towel, she blow dried her hair. Her hair was silky straight and thin, it was long and it was cascading down her back. She walked into her walk-in closet and settled on an outfit.

She wore a plain short sleeved white summer dress with white lace, a small dark brown belt that went around her waist loosely, matching dark brown ankle boots with a thick but small heel and a thin beige cardigan to go over her arms.

Elena applied light and natural make-up and cleaned her room of all the mess she left behind while getting ready for school, leaving her room spotless. Her phone chimed and she opened the text to see a message from Caroline.

You better be awake and on your way or Bonnie and I will kill you

Just as she was laughing at the text, Jeremy was knocking at her opened room door again. She looked up at him and smiled, his hair was a little spiked up and he was wearing a brown graphic tee with dark blue jeans and black shoes.

"C'mon, we have a half an hour to get Bonnie and Caroline, and get to the school. Plus, I have to meet April at the school because I'm going to ask her to take my shift at the Grill tonight," Jeremy said.

Elena walked over to her desk chair and grabbed her sunglasses, over the shoulder school bag and her car keys. "I've got everything, go get your bag and stuff while I grab something for breakfast really quickly," Elena said.

She walked downstairs and as she made her way down, she heard the three annoying voices of Isobel, Katherine and Sage in the kitchen. She walked over to kitchen to grab a couple of granola bars from the cupboard when the voices just stopped abruptly, but Elena didn't pay any attention to it. Her back was turned to them and she wouldn't let her sisters bug her on the first day of school.

Elena stuffed a couple of granola bars into her bag then walked over to the table to grab the two ten dollar bills Grayson left on the table for Elena and Jeremy's lunch. Just as she was going to grab some orange juice from the fridge, Katherine was the first to speak.

"So, what's your schedule look like?" Katherine asked.

Elena rolled her eyes and put down her drink, "I have first period AP American History, second period AP Calculus, third period AP Biology, and fourth period AP English Lit," she said.

"Sage and I have first period with you," Katherine smirked, tugging at her long luscious curls feigning innocence.

Elena put on a fake smiled but inside her head was spinning, she could not last a whole semester with her condescending sister and annoying best friend in her first period class. Mornings weren't great to begin with, now she has to share an hour of it with the people she disliked the most.

"That's great, maybe I can help you with your homework when you get stuck," Elena smirked back; two could play at this game.

Katherine may have her father's luscious curls and a smoking hot body but she didn't have class and she was extremely promiscuous, she was also a lot less smart than Elena. Whenever things got bad between them, usually because Katherine couldn't shut her mouth and always had to be the superior one, Katherine would throw vicious remarks at Elena in the hopes of dragging down her self-esteem and Elena would always throw her marks in Katherine's face.

Katherine's turned into a frown for a split second before her face was back to its usual smirking habit, "Of course, what's the use of having a nerdy twin sister if she can't help you with your homework one in a while," she played along.

Elena ignored Katherine and looked on over to Isobel. She was great when she was alone with Jeremy and or Elena, but when she was around Katherine she became a totally different person. Elena smiled at Isobel, "Have a good day at school," she said.

Isobel rolled her eyes at Elena and bit into her apple. Inside, she knew that Elena meant it to tell her not to let John Green, her ex-boyfriend, get to her. Isobel told her that when she was alone with Elena one night and Elena being the good big sister that she is tried to mentally tell her that she'd be okay.

"Oh please, she'll be fine, mom," Katherine said sarcastically.

"Katherine, no one needs any of your shit in the morning," Jeremy sighed. He was standing in the doorway, having heard only a little of his sisters' banter and he was already mentally exhausted.

"Shut up, find your own ride to school today then," Katherine quipped, her eyes narrowing into slits at Jeremy's amused face.

"He's already got one. C'mon Jer, we don't want to be late for school like some people," Elena sang.

They laughed together as they left the kitchen and made their way to the front door and outside the house. Elena and Jeremy hopped into the driver and passenger seats of Elena's SUV and rolled down the windows because the heat was somewhat unbearable. While Elena started driving down to Caroline's to pick up the girls, she noticed people had begun to occupy the Salvatore mansion.

"Hey Jer," she said while driving past the house slowly.

Jeremy leaned over a little to see the house through Elena's side window and looked a little stunned, "Isn't that the Salvatore mansion? Like Stefan's old house? I thought Giuseppe and Maria left it to Stefan's Uncle Zac to take care of?"

"They did, but I think they're back now. That's Stefan over there talking to that guy," Elena said.

Stefan was a family friend and he was also one of the guys that were a part of Elena's clique. He lived here in Mystic Falls since he was born just like everyone else but two years ago his family got a job offer in New York and they left the house to Uncle Zac, yet here they were and back like nothing happened. There were no moving trucks and the house looked very pieced together so they couldn't have just moved in.

"Why wouldn't he or his family tell everyone that they were back in town," Elena asked and began to focus back on the route to Caroline's.

"Maybe they wanted it to be a surprise for when he gets back to school today, so he could surprise his friends with his return," Jeremy suggested. Elena shrugged but she couldn't get over the guy he was talking to. He looked about Stefan's age or so, his black hair and pale complexion was stunning from a far.

She pulled into the driveway where Caroline and Bonnie were waiting patiently for Elena on the porch. The girls got into the back seat because Jeremy was there and all said their hellos while Elena began driving towards the school. They were having a heated discussion about how great their senior year was going to be and Elena was debating telling the girls that Stefan was back and decided it was better to tell them.

"You'll never guess who we saw today," Elena said while looking between Caroline and Bonnie in the back seat. They pulled into the parking space facing the school and just as if it was on cue, Caroline screamed.

"What?" Bonnie asked frantically while Jeremy and Elena turned to look at Caroline with wide eyes.

Caroline was grinning like a Cheshire cat and climbed out of the car quickly. Lucky for Elena's windows being rolled down, she heard her best friend screaming clearly.

"Stefan!" Caroline half giggled half yelled before crushing Stefan in a bear hug.

Everyone smiled as they saw Stefan lounging at their outside lunch table they used to sit at all the time, knowing that they'd all group up there before school starts to look at everyone's schedule and know who has what. They all got out of the car and walked over to Stefan and gave him longing embraces. Soon enough, Matt and Tyler joined the group and Jeremy left to go find April.

"Damn Stefan, when did you get back?" Tyler chuckled, throwing Stefan into a manly back-slapping embrace.

Stefan chuckled, "I got back last week. My dad's company transferred him back to Mystic Falls because this way he can work from home and give my mom her life back. She was really unhappy not being able to see her friends and family, she's not a city girl," he explained as everyone nodded.

"I'm so happy you're back, Stefan. Mystic Falls hasn't been the same," Bonnie joked and playfully punched his shoulder.

They all went over their schedules and noticed they all had the same first period class, AP American History. Elena groaned, "I hope you can all handle being in a class with Katherine and Sage," she said.

Caroline's eyes blazed at Elena with anger, "Katherine and Sage are in our class? Man, no offense Elena, but I really hate your sister," she said with such distaste in her voice.

Stefan rolled his eyes before stuffing his schedule in his pocket, "Katherine isn't that bad, Caroline," he said. Stefan always had some sort of soft spot for Katherine that everyone in the group hated. She was Stefan's first, sex wise, and while he didn't impose on his friends' hatred for her, he did defend her sometimes.

"You only say that because you've been caught into her web of lies. She's evil, Stefan. Don't let her female-gigolo nature change your mind," Caroline huffed. Everyone laughed at Caroline's theatrics and made their way to their lockers and first period class where half the class was already in it.

They all disbursed into different seats all around the same areas of the class when the teacher started taking attendance and, as usual, Katherine was either skipping or just very late for class, her posse as well. The teacher, or known by the football players in his class as coach, started giving out overviews of what they were going to be learning in class and classroom rules, expectations, and consequences when Katherine and a couple of her friends walked into class.

"Sorry Mr. Tanner, I forgot to put gas in my car this morning so there was this whole dilemma about getting to class on time," Katherine said. She smirked at Elena who was rolling her eyes in the middle of the class; Elena had put a full tank of gas in Katherine's car last night so there would have been enough to get to school, ergo Katherine was lying.

"Just have a seat and pay attention, get the notes off of someone in the class later," Mr. Tanner scoffed.

Elena couldn't take her eyes off of one of the guys Katherine and her friends were with, he had a pale complexion and jet black hair, and his eyes were a piercing blue that sent cold chills through Elena's skin. He sat in the seat in front of her, directly to Stefan's left side. Elena looked over to Katherine and pointed her pencil questioningly to the mystery guy's head as Katherine just shrugged her shoulders, not caring at all about the person who was hanging out with her group.

Elena felt the tingle of her cellphone in her pocket and pulled it out; she saw a text message from Bonnie who was sitting diagonally behind her on the right side.

Stefan told me that guy in front of you is his cousin

Then her phone vibrated again in her hands and it was a text from Caroline.

Woah hot bad boy in front of you

Elena chuckled softly and sent them both a group text.

He's not my type, more like Katherine's type

Her phone vibrated as she got a text back from Caroline.

Everyone is Katherine's type, she's a whore

Elena rolled her eyes at her friends' hatred for her twin sister and pushed her phone into her pocket. She took down the rest of the notes that Mr. Tanner was saying and before long, first period was now over. Elena went the whole day without seeing her sister or her friends again in her classes but she did have Tyler in Biology and, surprisingly again, she had Stefan's cousin in her English Lit class. She had arrived late from lunch so she didn't get to hear his name during attendance.

On her way to her car, she was met up with Stefan who was leaning against her car. She approached him and looked at him questioningly, "Are you looking for a ride home? You'll have to squeeze in the back with Bonnie and Caroline because I have Jeremy to drive home today too," she said.

Stefan chuckled, "No, Damon's driving me home. I just got back to town so I don't have a car yet and in New York it was easier to have my driver take me places or take a taxi. Though, that's not what I am for. I wanted to ask you something, about Katherine" he said, looking apprehensive.

"Yeah, sure, anything," Elena said, stunned that Stefan would come to her to talk about Katherine of all people.

He cleared his throat before speaking, "I'm going to be blunt, if I may," he asked. Elena nodded curiously before he started again, "Is she seeing anyone?" he asked.

Elena laughed before rolling her eyes, "If you know Katherine then you know she doesn't date, she just has flings and casual sex," she said. Though her answer gave him no insight to his problem so she answered him clearly again, "No, she's not seeing anyone. Though, if I may warn you, she is currently having casual sex with her boy toy Mason," she told him.

Stefan nodded at her; his expression was an unreadable one. She didn't know whether to feel bad because it sounded like Stefan wanted to take a chance with her or something, or feel happy that her horrible sister could get her friends into her nasty and sticky webs. She smiled at him and was about to speak before a husky voice from behind her spoke first.

"Stefan, c'mon man we have to go. I have work in half an hour."

She turned around and saw the mystery boy from her first and last period classes, Stefan's cousin. She put piece and piece together and realized his name was Damon. He looked down at Elena without any expression on his face and then back up at Stefan.

"Yeah, just a second, I need to ask Elena one more thing," Stefan said.

"Ah, so your name is Elena. I was wondering when we were going to officially introduce ourselves, sitting by a pretty girl like you in two out of four of my classes and not knowing your name is agonizing," Damon said amusedly, his eyebrows rose seductively.

And just like that, Elena could already feel her burning passion inside of her. She couldn't tell if her feelings were positive or negative yet, but from the looks of it, it looked a bit negative. He seemed like an ordinary bad boy, only wanting one thing from a girl. She rolled her eyes at him and thought about it some more, if he hangs out with Katherine's group then she can be damn sure that's not a person she wants to get to know. Although, she couldn't control the butterflies in her stomach as he spoke.

"Nice to meet you too, Damon," she said curtly.

He smirked at her and cocked his head to the side slightly, "Have you been doing your research on me already? I didn't tell you my name and you already knew, damn girl, you get around fast," he joked.

Elena's cheeks burned a small shade of pink while her eyes burned with fury, "Get over yourself, Stefan just told me a couple of seconds ago," she said, her demeanor was hard but her cheeks were blushing profusely as Damon's smirk only got wider.

Suddenly, the piercing sound of Katherine's voice was heard not too far away. Before Katherine got to the car, Elena closed her eyes and hit her forehead on the car door lightly a couple of times. Stefan laughed and Damon chuckled, he didn't understand.

Katherine approached Elena with a cat like grace, purposely ignoring Damon and Stefan's stares. Elena's fury began boiling inside of her, she was so conflicted. She didn't want Stefan to fall for Katherine because that was one of her best friends and she didn't want her associating with Damon, though she couldn't understand why. It was probably because he was a cousin of Stefan's and didn't want him hurt either.

"I need you to drive Isobel home because I'm going out," Katherine smirked, her eyes drifting upward to Damon's as she bat her eyelashes at her. This didn't go unnoticed by Stefan and Elena.

"No, Katherine. She's your responsibility. I have to drive Jeremy, Bonnie, Caroline and Tyler home; I don't have any space to drive her. You brought her to school, you bring her home," Elena seethed. She didn't have to drive Tyler home, but that made an excuse for not having to drive Isobel home. It also wouldn't have been a problem to bring her home because she's good when she's away from Katherine but she couldn't trust Isobel not to tell Katherine anything they said in the car.

Katherine pouted but her eyes were burning with an anger only Elena could recognize, "Please Elena, just this once," she pleaded. Elena could see right through it though, she was probably going over to Mason's for some fun. Though, something told Elena that Katherine was probably going with someone new today because Mason would have waited for Katherine to drop off Isobel at home.

"No Katherine, drop her off at home then go about your day after. It's only a 7 minute drive anyway," Elena sighed.

Katherine huffed and walked away without another word and Stefan's head hung low for a second. He stalked off to Damon's car and for a brief second Elena could see a flash of care in Damon's eyes as his eyes trailed Stefan's back. He looked over at Elena and smiled slightly and Elena felt compelled to smile back.

"Hey, what are your plans for tonight?" Damon asked.

Elena was taken aback by his forwardness but decided not to comment on it, "It's the first day of school so Tyler Lockwood usually holds a party at his house to celebrate the start of a new year. It's supposed to be a big thing because we're seniors now, so I'm going to that. Why?" She said.

Damon nodded at her and leaned against the car door slightly, "I was invited to that, so after my shift at work I was going to stop by. Guess I'll see you there?" he asked.

Elena smiled warmly at him, any negative thoughts about him dispelled, "Yeah, I'll see you there," she said.

He nodded at her with a smirk and stalked off to his car to meet up with Stefan. Just as he left, Jeremy, Caroline and Bonnie were all approaching the car talking about Tyler's party. They all got into the car and drove out of the student parking lot when Caroline asked the inevitable question.

"So are we all going to talk about how Katherine was basically all over new boy toy Damon today during lunch? That bitch can't even see new meat without somehow clawing her way into it and claiming it," Caroline huffed.

Bonnie and Jeremy laughed, completely oblivious to Elena's menacing grip on the steering wheel. "I thought she was fucking Mason?" Jeremy asked.

Elena gaped at her brother for putting it so bluntly and he shrugged, "Hey, I stopped denying she was a whore the moment she fucked Stefan then left him to rot. She may be my sister but she's the biggest bitch in the world," Jeremy said, earning props from Caroline and chuckles from Bonnie.

Elena couldn't help but feel jealous of Katherine. She and Elena were identical twins for heaven's sake, why did everyone have to be attracted to Katherine and not Elena. She was tired of everything revolving around Katherine, not everything had to go her way and Elena would be damned if she let Damon slip into Katherine's hands. She's basically had a fling with every boy in this town; Elena would be damned if she let the only guy left in this town get to Katherine.

"Whatever, she won't get him," Elena murmured, though Caroline heard it.

"Ou, twin fight over a guy?" Caroline egged her on.

"There won't be a fight, unlike Katherine I have class," Elena reminded the group.

Everyone chuckled and Caroline sat up a little straighter, "does little 'Lena have a crush on Damy?" Caroline joked. Elena blushed really hard and didn't say anything, giving Caroline the cue to continue. "You so like him, don't you! I can totally see the whole Delena thing happening, mark my words. Though, don't let Katherine get to him first," Caroline said.

Elena rolled her eyes at Caroline's dramatics. She didn't like him, liking someone took more than a few hours. She was attracted to him, and she didn't want her sister to get to him but that is usually how it goes.

She dropped Caroline and Bonnie off at their houses and drove home with Jeremy. They talked about the party at Tyler's and they bonded over music on the radio as they drove home together. Just as they were driving up the street they saw Katherine's car in the driveway and groaned simultaneously.

"Park your car behind hers," Jeremy said with an amused tone.

"Why would I do that? Then she can't get out of the drive way," Elena said oblivious to Jeremy's plan.

"That's the point. Piss her off by parking your car behind hers so she can't get to wherever she was supposed to go tonight without you leaving first. That'll teach her to mess with your man," Jeremy joked.

Elena laughed with her brother, "He's not my man. I'm just interested in him," she said, pulling into the driveway and parking behind Katherine's car. They got out of the car when Jeremy stopped and grabbed Elena's arm, dragging her to the opposite side of the house.

"Where are we going?" Elena whispered. Truthfully, she didn't need to whisper but because she was being dragged somewhere and no words were spoken she thought it would be better if she did whisper.

"If we walked through the front door there's a 50 percent chance she could have been around the door and then she would have told us to move the car because we're outside anyway. This way if we sneak into my room she won't know we're home until she looks outside or sees us upstairs, and by then she can't make you move the car because you're already settled inside," Jeremy explained.

He climbed up on top of the gazebo and jumped up, his arms grasping the ledge of his balcony and he used his upper body strength to lift him up so he could put his leg over the bar and onto his feet on his balcony. Elena climbed up the gazebo and Jeremy lent out his hand to pull her up but she shook her head and repeated the process Jeremy had done not too long ago.

Jeremy looked at her with a stunned expression, "How'd you do that? No offense, Elena, but I always thought you were a little on the weaker side," Jeremy laughed.

"While your ass is sleeping in on weekends I'm out at the gym doing yoga or zumba," Elena chuckled and smoothed out her dress.

Jeremy had gone back to going on the computer and Elena went to her room to grab her journal when she saw Katherine sitting on her bed, waiting for her to get home. Elena rolled her eyes and stood in her doorway, her arms were crossed and she leant her back against the door.

"What do you want?" Elena asked.

"How nice of you to come home and park behind my car by the way. I want to know why you didn't take Isobel today and made me look like a fool in front of Stefan and Damon. Don't say you didn't have space because Mason told me he took Tyler home today after school," Katherine seethed.

Elena laughed at her sister before taking her cardigan off and putting it on the back of her desk chair, "I didn't do anything. You told me to take Isobel because you wanted to go to Mason's after school. Excuse me for not wanting to take on your responsibilities so you can go and fuck your boyfriend after school," Elena reprimanded.

"I wasn't going to see Mason," Katherine said.

"Oh? And what were you going to do?" Elena questioned.

"That's none of your business, but you ruined my plans none the less. You're such a bitch sometimes, I've done nothing wrong to you and you treat me like I'm the ice queen or something," Katherine pouted.

Elena gawked at her sister; the nerve this girl had to come into her room and call her a bitch. "Get out, Katherine. I don't want to deal with your shit, I've got my own life to deal with," Elena said. She was massaging her temples roughly and closing her eyes in the hopes that Katherine would see that she wasn't in the mood to deal with her. Though, sadly, she was mistaken and the so called ice queen was still there.

"I saw the way you looked at Damon today, don't think I didn't. Hmm, it's too bad. I plan on taking him first, you can have my seconds after," Katherine chuckled darkly.

Elena's eyes shot open and she gave her sister a death stare, "He's not a toy, Katherine. You can't just play with him when you want to then throw him to the side when you don't want him anymore, that's not how it works," Elena fumed.

"You wouldn't know that, you've never been with a guy before. Oh precious virginal Elena," Katherine mocked.

"Just because I'm a virgin doesn't mean anything, it's my choice to keep my virginity. At least I wasn't stupid enough to let my first time be in the back of my now ex-fling's mom's mini-van," Elena retorted. Right when Elena said it, she knew she had some what struck a nerve in her sister because she could feel the wrath of Katherine's death stare.

Katherine seethed in her mind and got into Elena's face, "At least I had someone who liked me enough to fuck me, you've got no one. You can't play hard to get when you're hard to want, Elena."

Katherine turned on her heel and walked away from Elena and her room.

* * *

"You're kidding me, wow what a slut. She's just upset because she regrets her slutty first time so she wanted to throw your beliefs in your face," Bonnie said.

After Elena's encounter with Katherine she'd gotten ready for the party and drove Caroline and Bonnie to Tyler's to help set up early. They put out bowls of junk food and drinks while there were also servings of teenager foods like pizza and fries. People showed up at the party and they were so into setting up that Elena forgot to tell Bonnie and Caroline what happened between her and Katherine. She mentioned it to them about half way through the party and the girls were shocked.

As Elena was grabbing herself a drink from inside, the husky voice she'd been waiting for all night had decided to speak from behind her. "Elena," he said, her name rolling off his tongue with such a slick ease.

She smiled up at him and sipped her drink quickly to give him a reply, "Hey," she said.

"This party isn't so bad, Stefan and I just got here but it seems like the party already started without us," he fake pouted.

Elena chuckled, "That's okay, you're just fashionably late," she smirked.

They started talking when Katherine made her presence known with her friend Sage and she noticed Elena right away talking to Damon. Determined to win her battle and have Damon for herself, she stalked over to where they were and began talking.

"Damon, Elena, how are you enjoying the party," Katherine smirked.

Elena rolled her eyes but put on a fake smiled that even Damon could see through, "Oh you know, it was great. Though there's only one problem with it now, you," she smiled.

Katherine laughed as if Elena were joking and turned her attention to Damon, sending him a seductive smirk, "Haven't seen you all night, where've you been?" she asked.

Damon smirked back, he could feel the tension between Katherine and Elena and he was rather annoyed that Katherine interrupted their conversation but he rather liked Elena's jealously and mean side towards Katherine so he decided to milk it for all it was worth, "Working at the Grill. I just showed up here a few minutes ago with Stefan, actually," he said. He knew how much his cousin wanted Katherine so he knew how to play his cards.

Katherine's eyes sparked a bit at the mention of Stefan's name and she asked him where she could find Stefan and Damon pointed her in the right direction. This would help Stefan try to get the girl, get Katherine away from Elena to ease her sour mood, and leave Damon alone so he could breathe and actually talk to Elena. He was fascinated with her and he wanted to learn more about her. She was fierce but had this class and calmness about her, though she was stern and knew not to take shit from anyone.

"Why'd you send her away?" Elena asked. She didn't like how Damon sent her sister right into the arms of Stefan where she could attack his feelings more than she already did.

"Because I want to get to know you and I can't exactly do that with her around," Damon said.

"But why would you want to get to know me?" Elena pushed. She didn't know what his answer would be but she was hoping she wasn't setting herself up for inevitable disappointment.

"Because you intrigue me and I like your spunk," he said with such seriousness in his voice as he took a cup and took a sip of the drink.

"And what are you going to do about it," Elena smirked.

He looked down at her with such intensity in his eyes, "We'll just have to see now won't we?" Damon purred.

The corners of Elena's lips tugged up in a small smile and she nodded, her sweet doe eyes looking content with his answer. Damon couldn't get over how fast this girl was starting to grow on him. He didn't do crushes, he didn't do feelings, but somehow whenever she spoke she gave him goose bumps and he couldn't help but want to explore whatever this could lead to and see if it could be more than this.

* * *

_I don't know if you guys enjoyed this or not but I've always wanted to do something like this and I've planned everything out about how this story's supposed to go from the different couple sequences to realistic and heartfelt plot twists to hardcore family secrets and fears in general. I really hope you like it because I really want to continue this story! I've already written the next chapter but I want to see what people think before posting the next chapter._

_Remember that the more reviews I get, the faster I will upload chapters. You're my motivation, speak up and give me constructive criticism if it's bad and positive comments if it's good! All reviews are accepted and never judged, just no hate please._

_Feedback is love, people_


	2. Traumatic Experiences

_**Story**: My Saving Grace_

_**Chapter**: Traumatic Experiences_

_**Disclaimer**: I don't own The Vampire Diaries or it's characters, just my story and it's plot_.

* * *

"Why exactly are you studying for English during lunch?"

Those words made Elena's head snap up from her seat outside and saw the bluest eyes she's ever seen stare back at hers. Elena always felt that blue was colder colour but when she looked into his blue eyes she somewhat felt a type of warmth she couldn't describe and a sort of comfort she'd been longing for.

"How do you know I'm studying for English?" Elena asked.

He rolled his eyes and sat beside her, looking up at her with an amused expression, "Your purple binder is your English Lit binder," he smirked.

Elena's eyebrows furrowed and she took a quick break from studying to look at him, "How do you know my purple binder is just for English Lit? It could be for my other subjects too," she defended. She was studying for English, he was right, but knowing the colour of her binder made Elena laugh.

"Your purple binder is English and your red one is for American History. Your blue binder is your Biology binder and your green one is your Calculus binder. I know all of your binders because I've walked you to your locker a couple of times," he said. If Elena didn't know any better, she could swear she heard the slight shyness in his voice.

"Are you stalking me?" Elena joked, the pitch of her voice getting a little higher when she began to giggle. Damon rolled his eyes at her and didn't answer her question, assuming it was rhetorical.

He grabbed his lunch of out his bag and Elena mentally sighed. She hadn't eaten lunch yet because she was studying all throughout the lunch period and didn't have any breakfast because she forgot to take her granola bar from the kitchen on her way to school today. He opened the container of his bowl and the aroma of authentic homemade Italian pasta hit her senses and as if on command, her stomach growled loudly.

Damon looked over at Elena and smiled, he heard her stomach growl and he knew she was hungry. Hell, she'd been sitting outside the whole time studying for her English test while all of her friends were inside the cafeteria having fun and eating. He knew that because he was watching her from a far for about 10 minutes debating whether or not to come over to her, or have lunch with her. It had been a couple of weeks since their very forward night at Tyler's party and though they've begun their way to feel comfortable around each other, Damon still felt nervous around her sometimes.

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

Elena was hungry, of course she was, but her mother always told her never to take food from people, even when offered. Though, it wasn't like Damon was offering her his food, he was just asking her if she was hungry.

"Yeah, a little," she chuckled, trying to brush her hungry off.

He smiled at her and pulled out an extra container of the same pasta and a fork from his bag, passing it over to Elena. "I was going to give it to Stefan because my aunt told me Stefan left the house this morning without it but when I saw him in the cafeteria he told me he had already bought lunch with his friends," Damon said.

Elena blushed at looked at the food then back at him, "Really, it's okay. I'll be fine," she said. Though it pained her to decline him and decline the delicious smelling pasta in front of her face.

Damon frowned, "No seriously, eat it. It's good, trust me. My aunt only makes the best pasta and she'll be upset with Stefan if I come back with a container with food still in it so it's in your best interest, and besides, you look like you could use some food," he said.

Elena suddenly felt self-conscious and closed her binder; there was no way she was going to get any studying done with Damon around. He noticed her uneasiness and put a hand on her knee, causing her eyes to snap into the direction of his.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way, I just think you're a little on the thin side and I heard your stomach growl so I know you want something to eat," he smiled at her. His voice was soft and Elena loved it, she loved the way he spoke to her with such gentleness.

"Thank you," she said.

Elena grabbed the container and stabbed the fork through some of it before putting it in her mouth. Elena's eyes drifted closed and she tried her hardest to stifle a moan of delight from tasting the pasta but failed miserably. Damon chuckled as he saw her expression, having been through that same position when he first tried the famous Maria Salvatore's pasta.

They had begun to eat in a comfortable silence when Elena was the first one to speak. "So how are you related to Stefan?" Elena asked, her smile urging Damon to answer.

"His dad is my mom's brother," Damon answered.

Elena took a sip from her water bottle, "I don't mean to pry, but why is it you live with Stefan's family and not yours?" Elena asked softly.

Damon slowed down his eating before his vulnerable eyes looked over at Elena's, "I used to live in New York with my parents, but they died two years ago so Stefan and his family took me in. They moved to New York a couple of years ago to take care of their real estate branch there for a while but the real reason was because my uncle wanted to get all the legal things over with about adoption papers and funeral expenses and everything else that needed to be taken care of," Damon said.

Elena's eyes started to water and her hand reached out to grasp Damon's as she gave his hand a small reassuring squeeze. "I'm sorry for your loss, Damon," Elena consoled.

"Thanks," Damon smiled softly, "But what about your parents? I passed by your house the other day, it's a lovely home. Big, but lovely," Damon said.

"My dad, Grayson Gilbert, he's a lawyer and he's Mystic Falls' best. We're one of the founding families of Mystic Falls, just like yours. It's pretty much been in the family name to be rich," Elena laughed. Though, when she laughed it looked like pain in her eyes. Damon smiled at her, he noticed she didn't bring up her mom but there was probably a reason for it so he didn't push it.

"So, your sister seems like quite the character," Damon said. He chuckled and stuck his fork through a piece of pasta and brought it to his mouth, completely oblivious of Elena's tense body.

Elena never wanted to talk about Katherine around Damon; it was like a line she was afraid of crossing. "You'd think that, wouldn't you," Elena said with distain. Damon looked over at Elena as she started nervously shifting her eyes at insignificant things, never meeting her eyes with his.

"You okay?" He asked. His voice looked a bit concerned for her for a second but she brushed it off with a smile and nodded.

They ate in a comfortable silence and before long Elena looked up at him with a smile, "Are you ready for the test?" she asked.

Damon laughed and waved his hand, "I'll pass that test no problem," he said. She let out a laugh before finishing the last piece of her pasta and closing the container.

"That was amazing, Damon. Thank you," she thanked shyly. Damon looked at Elena with ponderous eyes, how this beautiful girl can be so shy was beyond him. With her beauty, she should be flaunting it and instead she was here at a lunch table studying for a test without her friends. It's like she's a whole other person compared to her sister and it was something Damon was really liking.

"You've done me a favour, I would love to not go home and have my aunt go bat shit crazy because I brought home food that was supposed to be eaten by Saint Stefan," Damon chuckled.

Elena rolled her eyes at him, "C'mon, class is going to start any minute and I would really like to be there on time," she smiled.

Damon looked at her for a second, a little confused seeing as she had Calculus next and he has Chemistry, both on opposite ends of the school. "Do you want me to walk you to class?" he asked.

"Well it would be rude not to escort a lady to class, Mr. Salvatore," Elena said playfully. She was standing with her books gathered in her hand while Damon was still seated and putting their lunch containers away. She stuck her hand out to help him up off the seat and Damon looked at her hand, puzzled before he laughed.

"Isn't it the other way around with most girls? Aren't I supposed to help you up like men do in most fairy tales?" Damon laughed.

Elena chuckled, "Well, I'm not like most girls and we're not in a fairy tale," she said.

And with an impressed look on his face, he took her hand and let her help him up.

* * *

"I met a boy at school a few weeks ago, mom. I think he likes me," Elena blushed. There was Elena Gilbert, staring at her mother's unresponsive hand as she spilled the latest Mystic Falls gossip.

"I think Katherine might be upset with me for liking him back because I think she's interested in him. Or interested in sinking her claws into him and staking her claim but for the first time in a long time, mom, I can't bring myself to care. Is that selfish of me?" Elena questioned her mother. She knew there wouldn't be a response but she still spoke anyway, it was therapeutic in a way.

Elena sighed and closed her eyes, shaking her head, "But what kind of person does that make me, if I can't bring myself to care about Katherine's feelings? She's stomped on me so many times and she hasn't given a damn about my feelings, but that's what separates her from me. She'll always be the one who walks all over people to get what she wants, and I'll always be the timid one. It's not fair, mom, it's just not fair.

"What about what I want? Why does everyone always have to be on Katherine's side? Thank god for Jeremy and my friends, but I won't let Damon slip through my fingers, mom. I'm not going to let her get to him.

"I should get going. I love you, I'll see you soon," Elena rambled before kissing her mom on her flat surfaced forehead.

Elena grabbed her bag from the couch and took out a white tulip, putting it in the small vase on the end table beside her mother's hospital bed. She walked towards the door to leave and grasped the handle of the door, turning her hand as she turned her head to have one last look at her mom.

"Happy Birthday, mommy," Elena said. Smiling sadly as she left the hospital room with no sound other than the click the door made as she closed it.

As Elena was walking down the hall she bumped into Dr. Fell, her mother's beautiful brunette doctor. Dr. Fell looked at Elena with such sympathy in her eyes and engulfed her in a hug.

"You looked like you needed a hug," Meredith said.

Elena pulled back and swiped a tear that fell from her eye and smiled sadly, nodding in the process. "It's my mom's birthday today, I was just stopping by to give her some flowers and talk to her for a while. I wanted to fill her in on what's been going on so far," Elena explained.

Meredith nodded and smiled, "I'm sure if she were awake she'd of loved that," she said.

"I've got to run, I have to pick up Jeremy at soccer practise and I need to get Isobel from ballet class. Thanks for watching out for my mom, Mer," Elena thanked her. She was about to move on but before she could, she turned around abruptly and faced Dr. Fell.

"Hey, Mer?" Elena asked.

"Yeah?"

"Did anyone come by to see my mom today?"

Meredith shook her head sympathetically and Elena's eyes started watering but she pushed her tears back and nodded, walking towards the hospital elevator and pushing the G1 level to get to her car.

_Of course no one came to see her today. What was she expecting? She knew Katherine wouldn't go and see her, she hasn't seen her in a long time. Grayson was too busy with his work to ever have time for his wife, Jeremy didn't have a car and he has soccer practise today and just like Katherine, Isobel hasn't seen their mother in a long time either._

As soon as she saw her car she took a deep breath and climbed into the driver's seat. She took a shaky breath and before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face. Her silent cries turned into loud sobs and Elena had to cover her face with her hands to try and control herself. Her mother didn't deserve the treatment of no one visiting her on her birthday; it wasn't her fault she was in the car accident that landed her a personal room in the hospital.

Elena was quite angry with her family to be honest. It was Grayson's wife, why didn't he make time to see her? It was Isobel and Katherine's mother too, why hadn't they fit time for their mother in their schedule like they did. Jeremy was the only one who went with her on days to go see their mother but he was just a kid, he wouldn't know how to act if someone didn't go with him.

She wiped the tears from her face and relaxed in her seat, turning up the classical music on the radio to up her day. _Thank God for waterproof mascara_, Elena thought.

* * *

"Elena, what's for dinner tonight?" Jeremy asked innocently as she plopped down onto her bed. Elena rolled onto her side away from Jeremy and shrugged, she didn't want her shaky voice to clue Jeremy in that she was crying.

Though, the lack of response from Elena had Jeremy concerned so he turned her and she looked up at him with watery eyes. He sighed and gathered Elena in his arms. He knew what her problem was, today was the day. Today was their mother's birthday and their mother wasn't even mentally there to acknowledge it.

Jeremy held her tighter when her sobs got even louder or when her trembles were turning into shakes. "It's okay, you're okay, Elena, you'll be okay," he said.

"M-mommy," Elena cried. Jeremy felt his own tears threatening to escape because his once strong sister was reduced to such a fragile and broken state. He stroked her hair as she continued to cry and placed gentle kisses to her hair. Not long after, Elena had fallen asleep in his arms. He disentangled himself from her grip and laid her back gently on the bed.

Jeremy had to work tonight at the Grill. He didn't really want to, considering the state that his sister was in, but he needed the hours because it would help him work his way up the ladder in the restaurant business. On his way downstairs he called out for Katherine and Isobel and heard them laughing downstairs. He made his way to them and was shocked to see that they were watching TV.

"Hey Jer," said Isobel.

He nodded at her and sighed, "Guys, keep it down ok? Elena's having a rough day and I just got her to sleep. I need to pick up my shift at the Grill so I won't be home until about 12, so could you keep an eye on her? I called her friends to ask what they were doing tonight and all of them are busy so it would mean a lot if you could do this for her," he said.

Katherine raised her eyebrows at Jeremy and Isobel's eyes softened to the extreme, "What's going on, why's she having a rough day?" Isobel asked.

Elena was always the innocent and sensitive one out of all of them, and today was the day of her mother's birthday. The day that all the girls were in the car accident coming home from a birthday spa treatment that potentially ruined their mother's life. It always hit Elena the hardest because she didn't know how to handle the trauma of almost losing her mom and being in a big car accident and had seen countless therapists because of this. She's gotten better but this day usually has a traumatic effect on her.

"Don't you know what day it is today?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah, September 17th, why is that such a big deal?"

"Because today is mom's birthday and the day of the accident, you idiot," Jeremy snarled at Isobel.

Katherine was startled by her little brother's tone of voice with her little sister and decided to intervene, "Don't bite her head off, she forgot. It's okay, just go to work and we'll take over from here," she said.

Jeremy looked over at Katherine and grimaced, "Did you even go and see mom today at the hospital? Did either of you?" he asked.

Katherine's guilt was dripping from her eyes as she stood up in a quick motion and made her way over to Jeremy, grabbing his hair and slamming him against the door, "Shut up. If I wanted to go see mom, I would have. Don't question me, little boy. I'm sure you didn't leave your precious soccer game to go and see mom either. Now go to work and leave us alone. We've got her under control," Katherine snarled.

Jeremy shoved his sister off of him before walking off and about to leave the house but before he could do so he turned around and face his angry sister with a cold stare, "Sometimes I wish it was you instead of mom," Jeremy whispered with tears in his eyes before leaving and slamming the door behind him.

Katherine looked at the door; her face was a mixture of anger and sadness from being implied by her little brother that he basically hated her. She ran from her spot all the way until she reached her room and slammed the door behind her, leaving Isobel downstairs in a sticky situation.

Isobel walked up to Elena's room to check on her with a water bottle and aspirin in her hand just in case. Elena began stirring in her bed because she'd heard the noise of Isobel entering her room; she'd always been a light sleeper.

"What is it, Isobel?" Elena asked quietly.

"I just wanted to know how you were doing; I brought you some water and aspirin."

Elena accepted the gifts her little sister was bearing with gratitude and swallowed the aspirin with a gulp of water. "Thanks."

Isobel nodded and was on her way out when she heard the shuffle of Elena getting out of bed. She turned around and just as she did, Elena engulfed her in an embrace that made Isobel a little uncomfortable but felt warm.

"I'm going to go out for a little while," Elena sighed. She went into her closet and put on her light blue skinny jeans, plain black tee, and her brown leather jacket.

"Where are you going? I don't think you should be alone right now, Elena. It's not what Dr. Reid would have wanted," Isobel expressed.

Dr. Reid was Elena's psychiatrist since she was 10, since the car accident.

"It's okay; I'm just going to go to the library. I just need to indulge in some books right now, okay?" Elena reassured her sister.

Isobel nodded and was off to comfort Katherine while Elena got into her car and drove down to the Mystic Falls Public Library. It wasn't very good seeing as it was just like any public library, it had old books and semi-new books. It was interesting because the building was a very old historic building; it used to be the old founding Fell family's home before it was turned into a library when the Fell's moved properties. It also just so happens to be Elena's work place as well.

Elena's worked here for 3 years, since she was 14. She started by just re-stocking shelves with books but as she got older she made her way up the food chain from stocking shelves, to monitoring the computer areas to sign out computers, to being at the register for people signing out books all the way until her current job of part time librarian. Elena could locate books for you via the computer or she could point you into the area to the books you were looking for.

It was her day off today but she didn't see this place as her work place, it was her home away from home. Books and music were her two favourite things in the world that she'd like to indulge in on her spare time or in rough times. At the library, there was a piano far right hand corner with an acoustic guitar for when there would be visitors and small shows for the children of Mystic Falls.

The library was closed when she got there, the lights were off and Annie, the 57 year old librarian, had already locked up and gone home.

Elena made her way in with her spare key through the back door and found herself being drawn towards the piano instead of the books, so she went with her gut feeling and sat down on the bench, her fingers lifting to touch each key one by one, delicately and softly. Before long, she had a melody planned in her head and began playing away on the piano.

_And I'd give up forever to touch you_

_'Cause I know that you feel me somehow_

_You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be_

_And I don't want to go home right now_

Elena's eyes were tearing up as she sang but she took a deep breath and continued.

_And all I can taste is this moment_

_And all I can breathe is your life_

_'Cause sooner or later it's over_

_I just don't want to miss you tonight_

Elena's finger touched the piano keys with such delicacy and she was so in tuned with her singing that she didn't stop to notice someone had walked into the library and was listening to her beautiful voice from a far.

_And I don't want the world to see me_

_'Cause I don't think that they'd understand_

_When everything's made to be broken_

_I just want you to know who I am_

Elena finished singing and carried out the rest of her song just by the melody of her fingers on the piano keys because she didn't trust her shaky voice enough to sing.

When she finished the song, a velvety voice made itself known from behind her. Though, blame it on her downgraded mood or what have you, she wasn't frightened at all by the voice. It was comforting to her and she'd grown fond of it over the past three weeks.

"How did you get in here, Damon?" Elena said, not turning her head to look at him.

Damon smiled at the back of her head, "I need to finish some community service hours and I've been asked to clean up the library when everyone locked up. I have the key to prove it," he said. He dangled his key for proof and Elena chuckled before turning around, making blue orbs meet brown ones.

"What a coincidence, so do I. I work here," Elena chuckled; dangling her keys like Damon had done earlier. They laughed for a couple of seconds together before it quieted down for a while.

"That was beautiful," he said.

"What was?"

"Your singing, it was beautiful. It reminded me of my mom's voice, it's very sweet and angelic, it's been a while since I've heard a good song and a great voice to accompany it along with amazing piano skills. Did you write the song yourself?" Damon asked, sitting beside her on the piano bench.

Elena bit her lip; she hadn't sung in front of anyone since she was 10 years old and talking about it with Damon, although it felt comfortable with him, made her extremely self-conscious. "Yeah, I wrote it a long time ago. There's more to the song but I just didn't feel like finishing the lyrics while playing," she explained.

"I want to be a music producer in the future. I want to have my own record label and sign the best singers I can find. Either that or I want to be a high school history teacher," Damon confessed. He dropped his finger on a slightly high pitched F note before looking over at Elena's genuinely smiling face.

"I want to be a writer. It's always been my dream to write my own books and it's something I'm really interested in," Elena said truthfully.

Damon nodded, "Have you ever thought about becoming a singer though? You've got an amazing voice and I think you could make it big if you really tried," he encouraged.

Elena blushed and shrugged, "I've lost some motivation in writing so I'm not sure I'd be good for the singing business. Although, I have thought about pursuing a career in singing," she answered.

Damon looked at Elena in wonder; how could she think so little about her abilities. "Okay, that's enough doom and gloom for now. I've got to get back to cleaning, duty calls," he says, his famous smirk coming into play.

"Mind if I help you?" she asks shyly.

"Why would you want to help me clean? Wouldn't you rather be out with your friends?" Damon said while quirking an eyebrow at her.

Elena's lips tugged up in the corner, "You are my friend, and someone has to watch you to make sure you don't steal anything from my workplace," she laughed. Elena got up and pulled her long and silky brown hair into a pony tail and shrugged off her jacket, giving her best hard working face and attitude, which earned her a chuckle from Damon.

About an hour later, they were finally finishing up their cleaning by wiping down the tables with disinfectant wipes; Elena's choice.

"Why do we need to disinfect the tables?" Damon asked. He was grabbing more wipes from the Lysol container and talking to her while 3 tables down from her. He was amazed at her hard work, it wasn't even her community service hours and he hadn't even asked her to stay with him. Damon just wanted to know what a girl like her was doing with a guy like him.

"Because a lot of people use the tables to bring their own laptops and people studying use the tables to spread their books. If we don't clean it with disinfectant wipes every night then there would be a buildup of germs and people could get sick," Elena said. He nodded in understanding at her and she looked over at him with a gleam in her eyes.

"I'm going to guess we're just about done here," Damon stated.

Elena looked around the library and noticed that everything was in fact neat and clean, "Yeah, you clean up nice, Salvatore," Elena joked.

He laughed and threw his last Lysol wipe in the garbage bin across from him, closing the lid of the container with the Lysol wipes. "Have dinner with me," Damon said. Just like that, without room for an answer or any questions.

"Why?"

"Because you helped me clean here when you shouldn't have and because I'm hungry and I don't want to have dinner alone tonight," he said, smiling his 100 kilowatt smile that she just couldn't resist. Something about him had this warm and inviting aura and it was enough to make Elena go weak at the knees.

"You're not going to have dinner at home with Stefan and his parents? I'm sure Maria could whip up a great meal," Elena smiled. Remembering when she was ten and Maria made a mean lasagna for Elena and her family after her mother's accident.

He smiled at that, Damon loved Maria; she was like his second mother. "I could, but I'd rather take a pretty girl out to dinner for a change," said Damon. The ends of his lips tugging upwards and playing a smile to convince Elena, but there was no need; she already made up her answer.

"Well, then I should say yes. It could be fun I guess."

Damon smirked, "It could be, I've never taken someone out to dinner before. Though, if I do say so myself, I am extremely fun to be around," he said, his eyebrows wiggling. Elena laughed softly before smiling up at him; here was the boy that wanted to take out the girl he'd only met a few weeks ago and didn't know had problems of her own. But hey, he may have hidden problems of his own so she isn't alone.

"But I brought my car here and you brought your own," Elena said, her eyebrows scrunching in confusion. She'd never been on a date where she brought two different cars.

He smiled at her and shook his head, "I got Giuseppe to drop me off and I didn't bring my car with me so it looks like you'll have to do the driving, sweetheart," Damon drawled. Elena smirked at him and grabbed her car keys off of the counter without another word and Damon followed her lead.

She walked over to her car and got into the driver's seat but noticed he didn't get into the car, he just stood outside the passenger door. She tilted her head at him in confusion, why is he still outside? She thought. He rolled his eyes at her and grabbed the door handle but the door didn't open and she laughed; the door was still locked. She unlocked it and he got in, laughing with her.

"You know, if you didn't want to go to dinner with me, just saying so would have been a lot nicer than locking the door on me," he joked.

She laughed and put on her seatbelt, starting the car. "Oh shut up, it was an honest mistake," she said while laughing.

She turned the car out of her parking space and started driving towards the exit before she realized they hadn't picked a place to have dinner yet, "Where are we going? You asked me so you should have something in mind," Elena smiled. She hated picking places to eat, she didn't want to pick a place and not have the other person not want to go there.

"Want to go to The Grill? I haven't eaten there yet but supposedly the food is amazing," Damon said, his eyes fixated on her slightly shaky hands on the steering wheel.

"Yeah, the food is good there. It's also really good on price too, it's the usual Mystic High hang spot too," Elena smiled.

Damon nodded, "So we'll go there. Are you okay?" he asked timidly. She raised a confused eyebrow at him once they reached a red light and his pointed towards her slightly shaking hands on the wheel.

"It's not cold out, am I making you nervous?" he asked shyly.

She smiled slightly, "No it's not you, I just get a little anxious when I drive."

"Do you want me to take over?" Damon asked concernedly. She shook her head at him, her grip tightening a little on the steering wheel as her car drove through the green light and they drove towards the Grill in a comfortable silence.

They walked in through the Grill doors together and Matt's face lit up when he saw them.

"Hey Elena, Damon," Matt smiled at them. He was a wonderful host; he was always smiling and greeting people with a positive attitude. It also helps that he was Elena's childhood best friend and gave her the best seat in the house whenever she came by. They all said their hellos and Matt lead them to a secluded area and took their order. Elena chose a burger and fries with a coke and Damon ordered a T-bone steak with fries and a coke.

When Matt left, Damon turned his attention to Elena, "A burger? I never pegged you for the burger type, more like a salad type of girl. You're always surprising me, Elena Gilbert," Damon said. His voice took on a new shushed and husky tone and it made Elena's skin crawl with lust.

"I've always liked burgers from The Grill, it's the best thing they have here aside from their stakes and salads. My mom always used to get burgers so I thought I'd carry on the tradition," Elena smiled.

"If you don't mind my asking, what happened to your mom?" He asked. He could see by the way she talked about her mother that she was probably either deceased or ill. Her eyes dimmed as he asked and he grabbed her hand as an act of encouragement to continue talking, which she gladly accepted.

She closed her eyes and swallowed before opening them and looking on into Damon's blue orbs. "My mom and I along with my sisters, Isobel and Katherine, were coming home one day after a spa day treatment for my mom's birthday. I was sitting in the front seat with my mom and when we made a left turn a drunk driver ran the red light and smacked right into my mom's side of the car.

"I had my earphones in while listening to music so all I could remember was looking to my left and a really loud car horn over powered the sound of the music in my ears, then the car started twirling and it flipped. I woke up in the hospital with my brother Jeremy sitting in the chair beside me.

"Katherine was fine, just a few scratches. Isobel was on my mom's side and when the drunk driver hit her it made her smack her arm something in the car so she had a broken arm. I wasn't wearing my seatbelt so it's a miracle I'm even still alive but I hit my head really hard on the window and broke the glass so I had a huge concussion; they had to put me in a medically induced coma to let the swelling in my brain go down. Though, I woke up after about a week so it's okay.

"My mom on the other hand had it the worst. She's been in a coma ever since and though her body responds to treatments; her mind is still in a faraway place," Elena said. Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes but then she willed herself not to cry in front of Damon. She told herself that she was stronger than that; she didn't need to cry all the time.

Damon's eyes were filled with pure admiration for the girl in front of her. She miraculously survived a car accident and had to deal with the fact that her mom was basically, in all sense of the word, gone. Yet here she was, having dinner with him and having fun despite it all. He admired and envied her bravery and her strength because he hadn't taken it well when his parents died.

"When did this happen?" He asked. He knew that if he said he was sorry that she would just shrug it off, that's exactly what he did.

She looked up at him with sad eyes, "Seven years ago today," Elena said. Just before Damon could give her his condolences or anything in relation to that, Matt came with their food and drinks and there she was acting as if she didn't just recite one of her worst memories. She had on a smiled that almost looked real, he would have believed it if he didn't almost just witness a meltdown.

They ate in silence and though Elena felt comfortable with it, Damon just couldn't wait to jump at an opportunity to talk more with her. She pulled out the pickles from her burger with disgust and he shook his head at her, chuckling.

"What's the matter with you, you don't like pickles?" He said, taking the pickles from the edge of her plate and putting them in his mouth. It was strange, in any other situation with anyone other than him; Elena would have been turned off by him taking food from her plate, but she wasn't repressed at all. Oddly, she smiled at his bold action.

"I hate them, they're terrible. I like tomatoes better," Elena laughed. Damon smiled, he loved her laugh and he wanted her to laugh more often.

When they were done eating, Damon asked Matt for the bill and he gave it to them. Elena was pulling her wallet out of purse to pay when Damon stopped her.

"Why can't I pay? I'm not exactly into the whole cliché life and that includes having men pay for my dinners," Elena protested.

Damon smiled, "I'm a gentlemen and my mom always told me that when I ask a lady out, I'm supposed to pay, so I am. Plus, I have a lot of money so I would love to pay," he smirked.

Elena huffed and put her wallet in her purse with a pout. "Flaunting your money is a turn off. If you must know, I'm filthy rich as well," she said, her pout turning into a smirk.

He laughed in response, "Besides, you already proved your point about not liking the cliché life by being the designated driver on this date," he said. Elena quickly blushed when he said date.

"You're referring to this as a date?" she said shyly.

"Well, I did ask you out to dinner, I did pay for dinner, and I did get to know you more this whole time. Also because I've never done this before so yes, I think this qualifies as a date," Damon said. His husky tone coming back and making Elena's arms form goose bumps again.

She grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and hung her purse over her shoulder while Damon rolled down his sleeves and walked with her to the exit of The Grill. A voice called from behind that got Damon's attention and they both turned around simultaneously.

"Hey Damon, you coming into work tomorrow?" Jeremy asked. Elena raised her eyebrow at Damon out of curiosity and Damon just looked on to Jeremy and smiled.

"Of course, I'll be here by 11am sharp," Damon answered. Jeremy gave Elena a knowing smirk and Elena blushed, she'd just been caught on a date by her little brother.

Once they got onto the sidewalk outside of the restaurant, Elena turned to Damon and met his eyes with hers. "You work at The Grill? I thought you've never tried the food here?" Elena asked.

They walked towards the car when Damon answered, "I've only worked here for about two weeks and my aunt always has food ready at home so I've never really had the time to eat here I guess," he said.

Just as Elena went to respond, a car horn sounded to her left as a car almost ran into someone crossing the street and Elena's movements stilled. She couldn't talk and she couldn't move and just like that she felt as if she was back seven years ago at the car accident. She could barely even hear Damon trying to get her attention. Damon was starting to get a little startled with Elena's behaviour when he noticed she was hyperventilating and her pupils were dilating.

"Elena, just breathe okay? In through your mouth out through your nose," he said. But she wasn't having any of it because she was still hyperventilating and she was now noticeably shaking. It didn't take long before he knew what was happening, having had this done to him when he was going through the death of his parents.

"Elena, you're okay. It was just a car, you're safe," he said to her softly. He was stroking her soft face with one hand and her hair with the other trying to get her to come back to her senses. Damon was about to call out for help before he heard her quietly sob and begin to move her arms. He held her against his chest and sighed with relief as he stroked her hair and whispered soothing words in her ear.

"You're okay, Elena. I'll take you home and you'll lie down in your nice bed and you'll be fine," he said. Elena nodded at him and calmed herself down a bit but he could still see she was shaking so he picked her up and put her in the passenger seat of her own car and watched as she put on her own seatbelt before closing the door and getting into the driver's seat.

When they got to Elena's house, he parked in her driveway and turned to face her. She had her face turned towards the window and the tears were rolling down her eyes. His heart broke for her; he shouldn't have taken her out today. Any other day would probably have been fine, any other day but today.

"Elena?"

She turned to him and wiped the last tear to fall out of her eye before responding, "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to deal with that, but thank you for it anyway," Elena sighed.

He nodded and went outside to open the door for her, he held onto her arm as she got out of the car. He walked her to her front step as and she unlocked her front door, leaving it open for him to follow her so he walked in and followed her to wherever she was going. She led him up the stairs and to the left to a large room, presumably her room because she just took her coat off and hung it on one of the chairs.

Elena looked up at him with vulnerable eyes and the look made Damon feel difficult of denying her anything, "Can you stay with me a little while longer?" She said quietly.

"Sure," he offered with a smiled. She gave him a small smile and went to her closet to get a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top. He settled down on her bed and shrugged his coat, leaving it on the empty night table on the right side of her bed. He was just about to doze off on her comfortable king sized bed before he heard her bathroom door open.

She came out wearing the pajamas she'd chosen just before entering the bathroom and she looked freshened up. She didn't have a spec of make up on and her hair was pulled back into a pony tail, but surprisingly to him, he found that even without the little makeup she used, she was still beautiful.

Elena walked over to the bed and pulled the covers back before she wiggled into them and pulled them back. The only light that was shining in the room was the moonlight shining through her balcony doors. He was the first boy other than her brother to lay in her bed with her and she was completely comfortable with that.

"I should get going soon," he said. He didn't want to overstep his boundaries with her and he didn't know if she'd be comfortable if he spent the night, even if it was just to help her calm down from her anxious state. Though, he could still see that she was shaken up because of it.

"You can spend the night here if you'd like. I don't want to bother you with calling your uncle to pick you up from here and I'm not exactly in the mood to drive you home. It'd be nice to have someone here for me at this time," Elena said. Her hands were shaking from nervousness of being rejected.

He smiled down at her vulnerable state before noticing that Elena had already brought Jeremy's sweatpants just in case. "I'll stay with you, don't worry. I'll just catch a ride to work tomorrow with Jer," he said. He grabbed the sweatpants to change into and Elena brought her hands up to her eyes to cover them to try and give him privacy.

Damon laughed wholeheartedly at her childish ways but put on Jeremy's sweats and leaving his discarded ones folded and on the couch in the side of her room. He reached the bed and pulled back the covers, gently gliding into the bed and holding a shaking Elena in his arms to help her fall asleep.

"Thank you, Damon," she said softly.

He gave her a small smile and kissed her forehead, "Goodnight beautiful," he said.

The last thing he heard before he drifted to sleep with the quiet sounds of Elena's evened out sleeping breaths.

* * *

Katherine was in her room, contemplating the idea of going to Elena's bedroom to talk to her. She hadn't talked to anyone about the accident because she kept it bottled inside so she felt that if she could just open up to her twin about it, she would feel a whole lot better. This could probably patch up their friendship again if they had something in common to talk about.

She tiptoed across the hallway, careful not to wake Jeremy or Isobel and opened her sister's room door.

"Elena, can we ta-" Katherine said, but as soon as she saw Damon in Elena's bed, she forgot what she was going to say. Her sudden warm heart was instantly turned cold when she saw her sister and the guy she wanted, sleeping in the same bed together.

She stormed out of the room in anger but closed the door cautiously, not to wake either of them up. She stalked off to her bedroom and ripped open her dresser drawer. Pulling out a picture of Katherine and Elena at their ninth birthday party, staring at her twin sister's face with an angry grin.

"You're playing with fire, Elena. Prepare to get burned," Katherine seethed.

* * *

_So, how did I do? Interested in Elena and Damon's love story with a twist of angry Katherine? Drop me a review and tell me what you thought of this chapter, your favourite part and what you hope to see happen next!_

_Remember that the more reviews I get, the faster I will upload chapters. You're my motivation, speak up and give me constructive criticism if it's bad and positive comments if it's good! All reviews are accepted and never judged, just no hate please._

_Feedback is love, people_


End file.
